El Salvador: Floods - Oct 2018

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Two low pressure systems, one in the Atlantic and the other in the Pacific, caused intense rainfall conditions, flash floods in several communities in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua since 5 October...Civil Protection reported 15 people injured, six dead, one missing and 768 people in shelters. In addition, 1541 flooded houses and eight houses destroyed, an affected school and three other collapsed walls; eight roads and 13 damaged streets, 120 contaminated wells. (OCHA, 13 Oct 2018)

On October 6, in El Salvador the national Civil Protection System declared a Green Alert for the entire country. On October 7, a Yellow Alert was declared for 29 coastal municipalities, which on October 8 increased to 34 municipalities to include three municipalities in Morazán department and two in La Union department. A Green Alert remained in place for the rest of the country. The rains have affected the entire country. The hardest hit have been the eastern regions, specifically the cantons of El Brazo, La Canoa and El Tecomatal in the municipality of San Miguel; the cantons of San Felipe and Las Tunas in La Unión department; the cantons of Capitán Lazo and Puerto Parada in the municipality of Usulután; as well as the canton of Metalío in Sonsonate department (western El Salvador) and the cantons of San Diego and San Rafael Abajo in the municipality of La Libertad in central El Salvador. It should be noted that these floods have affected the majority of the municipalities located along the country's coast. (IFRC, 16 Oct 2018)

Rain continues to fall as a new system is beginning to form...In El Salvador, Sonsonate is one of the departments most affected. To date six deaths have been reported, 1 546 houses flooded. Rain will continue in coastal areas. (ECHO, 18 Oct 2018)